NEW SCIENCE LESSON IS GAME CHANGER

Scripps team, funded by grant, created video game to teach about seismology

As the player neared a scorching thermal vent to take rock samples, Rohrlick warned of the hazards.

“It’s so hot, it will melt you, so you have to get in and out before you burn and die,” he cautioned, though admitting that he still needs to program the “burn and die” part into the game.

Those details can help students visualize topics that are tough to study in conventional science labs — such as earthquakes and underwater ecosystems, said Hayden Katherine, director of the School of Education at Cal State San Marcos, and a specialist in educational technology.

“A video game would make something come alive, so you could see what the outcome of an earthquake is, or how the waves travel,” she said.

Experts differ on the role of competition in learning games, whether to build tests into the content, and how to strike the balance between education and entertainment. But they agree that successful games, whether commercial or academic, tap players’ impulses to conquer challenges.

“In the gaming experience, the learner is taken through a set of very thoroughly designed experiences, that take the learner from point A to point B,” said Arlene De Strulle, a program director for the National Science Foundation, which funds the Scripps games and other projects. “And the fun is the challenge of mastering something.”

Spotting an opportunity, commercial game manufacturers are entering the learning games market. Makers of the popular game “Minecraft,” which allows players to build structures, cities and worlds, opened an educational division with lesson plans for classrooms, and applications that let teachers insert curriculum into its games.

And a new game, “Dragonbox,” is giving the ubiquitous “Angry Birds” a run for its money, with an app that allows users to hatch dragons while learning algebra.

Gross said that even beyond their academic content, video games can build skill sets that include “teamwork, communication, collaboration and project management.”

Gaming and science share essential elements of discovery that are crucial to the next generation of scientists, Kilb said.

“The commonalities are: not afraid to fail, curious and explorers,” she said in the lecture, a TEDx talk in Encinitas. “So we want to plant that seed in the video game player that you can be the scientist.”